Australia lowers the bar

As reported by the IPKat's friend and antipodean IP lawyer Duncan Bucknell, the Australian High Court has made the task of proving the obviousness of a patented invention more difficult. According to the Court, the previous 'threshold test' is a myth, and the merest scintilla of invention is all that is required to establish an inventive step sufficient to get and keep an Australian patent. The Court also compares the standard European problem-solution approach and takes the view that, while this may be useful, it is not determinative of obviousness under Australian law.

Right: If an Australian were to invent an animal, they couldn't get much less obvious than this.

For more information on the case, the IPKat recommends his readers to Duncan's site.

More Australian inventions here, here and here.